Replies

Due to your challenge, I did a little research to find a good source. You are correct... I was wrong...

I was not right or wrong about anything. I didn't make any assertion or claim. I just asked for the source of your statistic of 25,000 Protestant "factions".

I did a little research to find a good source... According to World Christian Encyclopedia, there are over 33,000 denominations in 238 countries having increased in number from 8,196 in 1970.

Here you use the word, "denominations" instead of "factions". The 2001 edition of your source has it at 8,973 Protestant "denominations", not 25,000 or 33,000.

Also, according to your own source, included in that total of 33,000 "denominations" are Orthodox (781) and Roman Catholics (242)

Cordially,

That's an interesting discrepancy in the numbers from that source. My information was third-hand (as in reported by another party on another website). Who's to say what the real numbers are? That's one of my difficulties with the Protestant view of the world... when Catholics disagree on a matter of faith, we take it to a higher authority (the Catechism, the Bible, the Magisterium) until we resolve the conflict. Protestants simply form a new denomination.

I take issue with their characterization of 242 Roman Catholic denominations. They could be talking about Dominicans, Franciscans, Coptics, Maronites, et al. Some of that is a separation of holy orders and others are a separation of tradition and purpose (such as the Maronites who preserve Christ's Words of Consecration in original Aramaic). There are really only 22 "churches" who have a separate tradition or liturgy who are in communion with Rome. According to dictionary.com, a denomination is "A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy." That could possibly apply to those churches when viewed from different perspectives. However, they are all in communion with the Holy See in Rome and we are One Church.

That's not true of the Protestant side of the house...